Like A Dark Paradise (A Hazbin Hotel story)

Misplaced Faith

A/N: I am so sorry for the unexpected two year hiatus!! So many things happened during that time that caused me to have a fallout with the Hellaverse community. I also lost some inspiration for the story and how I wanted the story to go but after some careful revisions, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. If you guys have waited this long for an updated chapter, kudos to you guys for sticking it out this long. 

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"...and that's all I have to report for now."

Madame Aura stood idly before the leader of the coven, Ahn-ja, awaiting further orders from her. Personally, she wasn't very fond of the sinner's ways of running things in the coven, but she had to force herself to put up with it.

The lead witch in question has just finished sorting out her collection of elegant jars on her short table. Her back was turned from the witch doctor with only her peculiar feather-like hair visible to her line of sight. Ahn-ja has never shown her face to Madame Aura; not since she joined the coven.

"And the fae demon...?" the desert witch questioned.

"Still intact, M'lady," Aura replied earnestly. "Alastor hasn't attempted to consume her blood throughout the entire surveillance."

Carefully, the demon draped in black and gold picked up a beautifully decorated silk veil from her hand-sculpted vanity. Her talon-like fingers glided over the front of the silk with such poise, her movements matching the smoothness of it. Aura could have sworn she heard her laugh. Calmness, yet cold in a way.

"...'ant shakhs sadhajun. Wamae dhalik, qasr alnazar mithl almadi..."

Aura didn't have a very good grasp on the words she had spoken. She was very much aware that it was in a foreign language, but it was not of her own.

"Miss Aura..." the woman began as she brought the veil over to her face, tying the strings behind her long, lustrous hair. "Just because he hasn't attempted to doesn't necessarily mean that he will. Not in your presence, of course. If what you've addressed to me is true, then he may as well be planning to act in your absence."

"That is true, but I know for a fact that--"

"Nonsense," Ahn-ja remarked abruptly. Finally, she turned towards the small deer demon, her face now completely obscured by the veil. "Do not place blind faith on a demon who knows nothing but manslaughter. Sinners like him aren't to be taken lightly. You, of all people, should know that by now."

Instead of attempting to refute her statement, the witch doctor chose to stay silent. There was not much she could say about the matter. As frigid cold the truth was to bear for Aura, Ahn-ja was right. At this point in her afterlife, she knew better than to place any hint of faith onto a double-dealing sinner. It was the reason why she lost her only daughter and why her granddaughter ran away from home.

With a quiet sigh, Aura then answered, "I understand, M'lady."

"Good." Ahn-ja approached the small deer demon, easily towering her figure. She stood in a dignified and respectable manner, glancing down at her through the veil. "Do not let your emotions sway you from your objective. Cast aside your doubts and focus on the task at hand. Alastor is a powerful adversary. Tread lightly for the next time, he will decimate any remnants of your flesh."

Aura knew she was hinting her amputated leg from her fight with the Radio Demon. For her to bring it up irritated her. She did not want to remember the events that took place during that time.

"Continue to watch over the Radio Demon and the fae," she continued in an authoritative tone. "Send any reports when necessary. I'm counting on you, Madame Aura. You're dismissed."